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Tuesday March 2, 2010

Title Chase Intensifies After Chelsea's Home Loss

Manchester United 3 West Ham United 0

On Wednesday evening, Wayne Rooney produced another match-winning performance for Manchester United as he took his tally for the season to 27 by bagging a double against West Ham United.
Michael Owen scored for the first time since that hat-trick at Wolfsburg in December as the Red Devils closed to within a point of Premier League leaders Chelsea.
But Owen's late effort was a mere footnote compared to Rooney's contribution. The 24-year-old has been set a conservative target of 30 by Sir Alex Ferguson. At this rate he will eclipse the 42 that helped turn Cristiano Ronaldo into the world's best player two years ago.
Rooney has a maximum of 17 matches to overhaul Ronaldo's 2007-08 tally. On present form it is well within range.

Chelsea 2 Manchester City 4

In the early game on Saturday, Manchester City blew the title race wide open once more by hammering nine-man Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
A truly astonishing afternoon exploded into life once Frank Lampard had put the hosts in front just before the break.
At about that point, Chelsea's world imploded. Stand-in goalkeeper Henrique Hilario failed to keep out routine shots from Carlos Tevez and Craig Bellamy either side of the interval.
Then Juliano Belletti was red carded for a foul on Gareth Barry that allowed Tevez to fire home a third from the spot.
And the drama did not finish there as Michael Ballack was also sent off for two yellow cards before Bellamy added another.
A stoppage time Lampard penalty at least raised a cheer from a team whose lead over Manchester United remains a precarious single point.

Birmingham City 1 Wigan Athletic 0

James McFadden's penalty lifted Birmingham City to the 40-point mark in the Premier League and piled on the relegation worries for Wigan Athletic at St Andrew's.
Former Blues defender Mario Melchiot was ruled to have fouled winger Keith Fahey in first-half injury-time before McFadden converted the spot-kick.
It means the Latics have now gone seven league matches without a win but City can look forward with confidence to another top-flight campaign after being written off as relegation certainties in August.
Wigan may feel hard done by with the penalty decision but they can have no complaints about the outcome as Alex McLeish's side had enough chances to secure the three points.
Veteran Lee Bowyer turned in another excellent performance in the centre of midfield for City, who remain unbeaten at home since September.

Bolton Wanderers 1 Wolves 0

Bolton Wanderers were toasting an unlikely match winner in Zat Knight as they claimed only their second victory in nine Premier League matches since Owen Coyle became manager.
It was the defender's first goal of the season and a welcome one at that in first half stoppage time and moved the Trotters above Wolverhampton Wanderers in the table although neither side is out of the woods yet.
The visitors were left despondent especially as David Jones and Steve Foley both saw efforts come back off the woodwork.
While Knight got the plaudits, Aberdeen-born midfielder Stuart Holden had much to do with the victory.
The United States international was rewarded for his display in midweek against Tottenham Hotspur with his first league start.
He responded superbly and Wolves had difficulty dealing with his set pieces.

Burnley 1 Portsmouth 2

Portsmouth put their off-field troubles behind them to win only their second away match in the Premier League in the last 16 months.
The south coast side rolled up their sleeves and twice took the lead to add to Burnley's own relegation fears.
Although Martin Paterson equalised Frederic Piquionne's opener in the first half, Hassan Yebda grabbed the winner from the spot 15 minutes from time for the visitors who ended the match with 10 men when Ricardo Rocha was dismissed late on.

Stoke City 1 Arsenal 3

A horrific injury to Arsenal youngster Aaron Ramsey overshadowed a last-gasp win over Stoke City that hauled the Gunners firmly into the Premier League title race on Saturday night.
The 19-year-old midfielder appeared to break his ankle after a red-card challenge from Ryan Shawcross that had echoes of team-mate Eduardo's own bad injury two years ago.
Stoke had led early on from a Danny Pugh goal but Nicklas Bendtner levelled before Cesc Fabregas struck a last-minute penalty and Thomas Vermaelen added another in injury time.
Arsenal's win lifted them to within three points of leaders Chelsea and ended Stoke's 11-match unbeaten run, but it is Ramsey's injury that will grab the headlines.
Shawcross appeared to be in tears when he left the field and a number of other players were clearly upset by the incident.

Tottenham Hotspur 2 Everton 1

Tottenham Hotspur ensured this week's virus at the club did not derail their Champions League hopes as they held on for victory against Everton and reclaimed fourth spot in the Premier League early on Sunday morning.
Roman Pavlyuchenko scored his fifth goal in three matches when he netted the opener at White Hart Lane, then Luka Modric doubled the lead with a fine second against David Moyes' men.
Harry Redknapp's side, however, had to survive a second-half comeback from the visitors, who scored through Ayegbeni Yakubu and then saw substitute Landon Donovan miss a brilliant chance to score.
However, defeat dents the visitors' own top-four aspirations, following recent wins over Chelsea and Manchester United.
Spurs are still in the hunt to join the elite but after illness caused them to shut the indoor facilities at their training ground this week, there were memories of four years ago when their hopes were hit by a norovirus on the final day of the season.
On that day, Spurs players could barely make it onto the pitch at West Ham United - but against Everton they looked anything but sluggish and did their damage in the first half.
Key performers for Redknapp were Gareth Bale, marauding down the left from full-back, Wilson Palacios crashing into tackles in central midfield and Modric pulling the strings cutting in behind the forwards.
In Pavlyuchenko, Redknapp has a striker who wanted to leave during the January transfer window but now looks like one of the in-form strikers in the country.

Liverpool 2 Blackburn Rovers 1

Striker Fernando Torres marked his first start since 13th January by scoring the winner in a 2-1 victory over Blackburn Rovers at Anfield.
The Spain international hit his 13th goal in 17 Premier League appearances just before half-time, having missed five weeks at the start of the year after a knee operation.
Liverpool had gone ahead midway through the half with a goal from Steven Gerrard only for Jamie Carragher's handball to allow Keith Andrews to equalise from the penalty spot five minutes before the interval.
With fellow top-four challengers Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City both winning this weekend, it was imperative Rafael Benitez's side maintain the pressure - and they ground out a win against combative opponents.
But it was the goalscoring return of Torres that will have put a smile on Benitez's face as Liverpool scored for the 26th successive league game at Anfield and the 33rd in all competitions.

Sunderland 0 Fulham 0

Fulham goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer denied struggling Sunderland a first Premier League victory in 14 attempts to leave them hovering precariously above the drop zone.
The Australia international kept out Darren Bent's first-half free-kick and then blocked Alan Hutton's left-foot effort after the break to ensure the match ended goalless.
Substitute Bolo Zenden and Hutton both fired into the side-netting as the home side made a late push, but the first of four successive home matches which manager Steve Bruce believes will define the club's season ended in stalemate in front of a frustrated crowd of 40,192.
The point lifted the Wearsiders three clear of the drop zone, but there is little doubt that Roy Hodgson will have been the happier manager as his team extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to eight matches three days after they secured their passage to the last 16 in the Europa League.